US may impose $100,000 fee on students wanting to work after graduation

The US is planning to impose a USD 1,00,000 fee on visas issued to international students for working in the US after graduation from an American university, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Trump administration move comes after a US court struck down a proposal to levy a USD 1,00,000 fee on H1-B visas. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Homeland Security is mulling the high fee on Optional Practical Training (OPT) visas which are an extension of F-1 visas issued to students.

The OPT programme allows foreign graduates to work for one to three years on their student visas in areas directly related to their studies. Roughly 4,19,000 foreigners were working on OPT in 2024, the latest year for which data are available.